Assighoe



Jan. 10, 1928. 1,655,618

W. H. MASON APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF EXPLOSION FIBRATION 0FLIGNOCELLULOSE MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 'INVENTORJan. 10, 1928.

W. H. MASON APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF EXPLOSION FIBRA'IION 0FLIGNOCELLULOSE MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORM/A'am fi /%$0/7 ATTORNEY Jan. 10, E92, 1,655,618

, W. H. MASON APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF EXPLOSION FIBRATION OFLIGNOCELLULOSE MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 i i m4 1 i/06 INNENTOR fVM/Mm 67 79500 ATTORN EY 1,655,618 W. H. MASON APPARATUSFOR AND PROCESS OF-EXPLOSION FIBRATION OF.

Jan. 10, 1928.

' AT ORNEY Patents Jan. to. rare.

peel a w wi-eg,mrgf e WILLIAM H. Miirfifi'il', 0.73 LAUREL,IEISSISSIEEI, AFESIG-NGR T8 FEASUN FIBRE C931.- IPALNY, 03'? LAUREL,MISSISSIPPI, 1L {FOBPORATIGN (133 BELAVLFARE.

hernia-sires rote Ann P's-cones or EEZELQSIOH Finn-arsonLIGIQ'OCELLUILOSE ian'rnnrar...

Application filed. September My inventionis of apparatus for explosionfibration of ligno-cellulose materlal, hereinafter referred to forconvenience as wood.

An object of the present invention s the provision of fully organizedand coordinated apparatus for carrying on the explosion fibration ofwood as a practically continuous operation.

'Another object is the provision of means for utilizing the Waste steamfrom the guns for preheating the wood chips prior to their introductioninto the guns.

Another object is the provision of a chip inlet valve for the gunsadapted for ready and convenient opening and closing andfor efiicientlywithstanding the enormous pressure to which the gun and its valves aresubjected.

Another object consists in the provision oi a gun discharge valvearranged to minimize recoil and to promote the iibration action bycausing the streams from thevalve ports to impinge upon or meet oneanother at high velocity, and in accordance with a moditied form of theinvention to promote the fibration operation by directing the highvelocity discharge streams of fibre-ted wood against a roughenedorgrinding surface.

Other objects of the invention will appear in connection with thefollowing description. I

In the accompanying drawings I have shown embodiments of my inventionfor the purpose of illustration and for affording an understanding ofthe-invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not thefibrated wood, which steam is directed back to the chip bin forpreheating the chips. Fig. 4; is a plan view of a gun. Fig. 5 is alongitudinal section of a gun. Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a gunon the line 66, Fig. 5, and showing the discharge valve open. Fig.7 is across-sectionalview of the discharge valve of Fig. 6, showing the pipes18, 18 with the guns 20, 20.

cylinders.

18, 1925. Serial narrate.

discharge valve of Fig. 6 in closed position. Fig. 8 is a longitudinalsection of the discharge end' of a gun showing a modified form ofdischarge valve and wood fiber grinding meanscoacting therewith, andFig. 9 is a cross-section on the line 99, Fig. 8.

Reference numeral 10 designates the main bin for wood chips. Said bin isprovided with 0utlets'12, 12, one for each gun. An

extra chip outlet 12 may be provided for an additional gun, should thelatter be installed. The outlets 12 are controlled by the swing valves14 adapted. to be manually operated, as by the drawbar's 15. While thewood is preferably chipped to about the sizes used in paper milldigesters, it may be in much larger pieces if desired, but chips aremostreadily handled. From the outlets 12the chips fall into the chargehoppers 16, 16, which communicate through the I The chips in the chargehoppers, 16 may be heated with steam remaining'in the guns after thedischarge is completed and the discharge valve and the steam supplyvalve from the boiler are closed. For-heating the chips this residualsteam is sent to the charge hopper 16 through the pipes *2 controlled bythe valves 24, where it heats the chips and is condensed by coming intocontact with the chips therein. The gun being ventedby the opening ofvalves 2%, makes it readily possible to open the inlet valves 52 as soonas the residual steam has been taken out through the venting pipes 22.The fibrated wood from the guns is delivered to the discharge conduit26. Said discharge conduit 26 preferably leads to the centrifugalseparator 28. The fibrated wood falling to the bottom passes downwardlythrough the outlet 30 and is delivered, as by means of the conveyor 32.Exhaust steam pipe 34. is preferably carried back to the main bin 10 anddischarged by branches 36 of said pipe 34 into the chip bin to preheatchips before theirintroduction into the guns.

The guns 20, of which three are shown in the drawings, have the form ofelongated These guns are heavily constructed to withstand the enormouspressure of several hundred pounds to the square inch.

The walls are preferably formed of heavy pipe 38 on which the heads e0,42 are socurcd by the closely spaced through bolts at.

way as to be readily opened wide and to afford a strong tight seal whenclosed. Said inlet valve 52 is located on the under side of head 40 andcloses outwardly against the seat surrounding the inlet port 54. It issupported to be moved inwardly and swung away from the port 54 by beingearned on a crank arm 56 secured to a shaft 58, which extends through agland GO in the head 40. Shaft 58 is provided with the operating handle62, and a spring 64 surrounding shaft 58 serves to pull the valve 52toward its seat.

he extension 64 of crank arm 56 is provvided with the stud or finger 66,which serves to locate the valve 52 correctly with respect to its seat53 by entering the guide recess 68 on the under side of head 40. Theclosed and opened positions of the valve 52 and related parts are shownin full and dotted lines respectively in Fig. 4. With the constructiondescribed the valve is opened (when the pressure is off) by pushing downand turning the shaft 58 by the handle 62, causing the valve 52 to leaveits seat 53 and move away from the valve port to the position indicatedin dotted lines in Fig. 4, leaving the port 54 clear for theintroduction of chips into the gun and the valve 52 entirely out of theway of chips entering the gun. Reverse motion closes the valve 52, anyinaccuracy in the seating movement being corrected by coaction of thefinger 66 with the guide recess 68.

The valve port is sufficiently large toperniit the wiping off of anylodged chips which might prevent the valve closing tight.

Before the bottom head or end plate 42 is put in place, the disk 72 isinserted in the enlargement 74 of the bore 76 of pipe 38 with thesealing gasket 78 seated in the recess so provided. Disk 72 and head 42are provided with the aligned openings 80, 82 and beyond the opening 82therein, disk 72 is extended upwardly to form the male art or casing 84of the outlet valve.

The valve casing being made in a disk separate from the head can bereadily removed and replaced by a new one when wear occurs due to theextremely high velocity at which discharge takes place under the highpressure used at the time of discharge.

Said casing portion 84 is closed at its top in a more or less pointedportion 86 so as not to interfere unduly with the outward movement ofthe chips and has a pluralit and preferably an even number of laterallydisposed passages 88. A plurality of outlets are preferably provided inorder to keep the outlets small and at the same time to reduce the timerequired for discharge. In this way a material reduction is secured ofthe period during which the materials in the upper part of the guncylinder are subjected to the high pressure and heat of discharge andoverheating is avoided. These outlet passages are preferably arranged inpairs opposite one another, four such passages or two pairs of oppositepassages being shown in the illustrated construction. Passages 88preferably converge in the direction of outflow, as shown in Figs. 5 and7, the resulting compression and folding of chips in passing out throughthe narrow converging outlet passages or slots being apparentlyproductive of increased fibration of the discharged wood.

The discharge valve 9O is cylindrical in form and is received within theopenings 80, 82 and the bore 92 of the valve. casing84. It is providedwith ports 94 arranged in pairs to correspond and register with thepassages 88 is casing84, and the walls of ports 94 preferably divergesubstantially as shown in Figs. 5 and 7, in the direction of chip flowto permit initial expansion of the chips as they pass through the ports94 into the bore 96 of the valve 90. Thedischarging streams of explodedand fibrated chips emerging from opposite valve ports under the highpressure strike against one another within said bore 96, and this actionis of assistance in utilizing a portion of the energy expended forsecuring a thorough and complete fibration and a beating effect of partsof the fibrated material against other parts thereof. 7

A ring 98 is preferably welded to the valve member 90 and serves tosupport said valve member by being received in the grooves 100 in thesupporting and guiding pieces 102. Said members 102 are preferablybolted to the under side of head 42'so as to be readily removed,whereupon the valve 90 can be drawn out.

The pressures upon the discharge valve constructed as described aresubstantially balanced and all tendency of the Valve to bind or stick iseliminated and the valve can be operated with comparative readiness evenwhen the interior of the-gun is subjected to extremely high pressures. Asteam cylinder 104 is preferably provided for'rapid operation of thevalve 90, it being readily understood that admission of steam on therespective sides of piston 106 will turn valve 90 so as to open or closethe same as indicated in Fig. 6. The extent of outlet opening may bevaried by adjustment of the stroke of piston 106 and in this waycompensation for wear may be made, as, for example, by cutting down thepiston stroke when the discharge slots become worn.

In the outlet valve construction so far dellH) llU

scribed the movement of the fibrated wood is inward into the open endedvalve bore. This relation can be reversed, if desired as in themodification shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

With this construction the gun 20 is provided with the laterally portedtubular downward extension 107, which is surrounded by the sleeve valve108. The ma terial passing out through the ports 110 and 112 broughtinto register by turning the sleeve 108 strikes against the vanes 11%carried by sleeve 108. Vanes 11a impart circular or spiral movement tothe material being discharged and guide it into contact with theroughened or grinding inner surfaces of the rotatable shell or ring 116,which is supported in the revoluble housing 118 surrounding thedischarge valve. The member 1116 may be'of grinding materials, such ascarborundumand the like, or pieces such grinding materials may beinserted, member 116 may be of metal with file or the like surface, orattrition surfaces may he provided in various other ways. Member 116 iscaused to rotate by impact of the dis charged material thereon as itcomes off the vanes 11 1, thus equalizing wear on the surface of suchmember 116 and also keeping the surface of said member 116 clean;

The same means which opens the discharge valve member 108, as the crankarm 120 and link 122 connecting same to an actuating means, such as asteam cylinder, can be made use of to take up the reaction of sleeve108, caused by the discharged material coming into contact with thecurved vanes 11a, and hold the sleeve 108 and the vanes thereon againstturning while the gun is being cischarged. The fibrated material isdischarged downwardly through the passage 124. while the steam may bepermitted to escape (or pass back for reheating) through the passage126.

Various fluids under pressure. may be made use of for securing highlyetlicient fibration, as steam, compressed air and the like. l Vith theuse of steam the pressure may advantageously be in two stages, the firststage with steam at say 100-350 t per sq. in., being succeeded by a fewseconds of steam at very neighborhood of 800 to 1000i}: per sq. in. Thehigh pressure is preferably maintained behind the chips during thedischarge so that substantially as effective libration can be obtainedin the later as well as the earlier stages of the discharge. The pipe 38is preferably provided with one or more tapped holes as 128, 130 forattachment of cooks for drawing ofi any water of condensation,attachment of steam pipes for heating up the chips and the like. A pipeof large diameter for example a 2 pipe) is connected to the gun cylindernear the inlet end for supplying steam or other tluid under highpressures, say in the I pressure when the gun is discharged and tomaintain substantially full pressure on the material throughout theperiod of progressive discharge.

It will be seen that with apparatus as described operations can becarried on substantially continuously, one of the guns being dischargedas others are'being filled, brought up to pressure or the like, that thechips may be preheated as by means of waste steam, that the inlet valve,while readily opened and closed, affords a complete and certain seal orclosure, and that the balanced discharge valve permits the discharge ofthe material through constricted outlets that the outgoing streams mayeither strike against one another or be directed against grindingsurface, whereby a beating action and further fibration is secured.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for explosive fibration of lignocellulose material,comprising a chip bin, a gun, means for feeding chips from the bin tothe gun, means for separating steam from the discharged, fibratedmaterial, and

meansfor conducting said'steam to the chips in the bin.

2.1.11 av gun for explosive fibration of ligno-cellulose material, aninlet valve closoutwardly from within the chamber of thegun, and meansextending through the 'un at a point of? to one side of the valve I01operating the valve from outside the b S. In a gun for explosivefibration of lignocellulose material, an inlet valve clos ing outwardlyfrom within the gun chant her, and means for operating said valve fromoutside the gun in right line movement and in swinging movement withrespect to its seat.

4. In a gun for explosive fibration of ligno-cellulose material, aninlet valve closing from within outwardly, a longitudinally movableshaft extending to the exterior of the gun chamber, and an arm on saidshaft within the gun and by which the said valve is carried.

5. Apparatus according to claim Vi, in which guide means are providedfor controlling the movement of the shaft to guide the valve to itsseat.

6. Apparatus according to claim at, in which the arm is extended andprovided with a projecting finger and the gun chamber wall with aguiding recess, whereby the shaft movement is controlled to guide thevalve to its seat.

7. In a gun for explosive fibration of ligno-cellulose material, acylinder provid ing a chamber, a ported head therefor, an.

inlet valve within the chamber and closing outwardly to seal said port,a valve operating shaft extending through the head, spring means tendingto move said shaft outwardly, an ar-m on said shaft within the gunchamber, said valve being carried by said arm, and means connected withsaid arm for guiding the arm so as to correctly position the valve withrespect to its seat.

8. A gun for explosive libration of lignocellulose material, having adischarge valve with ports directed toward one another, whereby thestreams emerging from the ports are caused to meet outside the gunchamber.

9. A gun for'explosive fibration of lignocellulose'material, having adischarge valve with four constricted ports arranged in pairs, therespective portshaving their outlets directed toward one another.

10. A gun for-explosive fibration of lignocellulose materiah-having adischarge valve casmgextendmg wlthin the gun chamber and having aninwardly directedporuand a hollow cylindrical valve having a portadapted upon rotation of the valve to register with-the port-in thecasing.

11. A gun forexplosive libration of lignocellulose material, havingdischarge valve casing extending Within the gun chamber and havinglateral ports opposite one ,another, and a rotatable hollow cylindricalvalve having ports adapted to register with the ports in the casin 12.Apparatus in accordance with claim 11, in whichthe walls of the valvecasing ports converge in the direction of stream discharge.

13. A gun for explosive fibration of lignocellulose material, having adischarge valve provided with ports discharging substantially at rightangles to'the axis of the'gun.

let. A gun for explosive fibration of lignocellulose material, having adischargevalve provided with pairs of ports, the respective portswhereof have their outlets directed toward one another and atsubstantially right angles to the axis of the gun.

15. A gun for explosive fibration of li'gnocellulose material providedwith arplural'ity of constricted valved outlet iportsjwhereby thedischarge takes place progressivelyend yet is relatively rapid.

16. The process of fibratmgandrei'ining ligno-cellulose material, whichconsists fin exploding same by discharging 'from "under high pressure ina plurality of streams consisting substantially entirely of the fibratedmaterial and directing the'issuing' streams of fiber to meet oneanother, thereby utilizing velocity energy for additional'impactrefinement of the discharged fibrated material.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name hereto.

WILLIAM H. MASON.

